Acid victim may see again

An acid attack victim who bravely opened up to HT will never see from one eye but may regain some vision in the other.

In her story published January 14, Reenu Sharma recounted how a tenant in her east Delhi house threw a vial of acid at her six years ago for turning down his marriage proposal.

The acid fused her eyelids shut and damaged her nose, ears and lips. The burning sensation in her eyes has never stopped, she told HT. Financial constraints meant she continued to "burn in hell".

Moved by her story, offers of help poured in from numerous HT readers as well as from Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon.

A series of tests all through last week found her right eye damaged beyond repair and a slim chance of "providing her with some useful vision" in her left eye.

A team of eye, cornea and plastic surgeons at Fortis is now expected to operate on her in the next couple of weeks.

"We stimulated her eyes from the light source to see if light was reaching her brain. The right eye showed difficulty, indicating it is damaged completely. Her right eye ball has also collapsed," Dr Sanjay Dhawan, head of the department of ophthalmology, said.

Sharma will need multiple surgeries, hospital authorities said, adding that the cost would be known only after the procedures were complete.

"The surgery would require not just vision correction but lots of skin and membrane grafting," Dr Dhawan added.